Monday, July 2, 2012

Setting Up Grading Expectations

Welp, it's Monday! Only 1 more day till the 4th and 6 more days till my 30th birthday!! Ah... but I digress...

Today I want to tell you about something I came up with for my students this year. Grading has (for me) always been one of those illusive things... I've never really had a good system for myself for grading and I was tired of my students not really knowing how they were being graded.

So this year I was determined to make this something to focus on. I feel like I have a pretty good system figured out for both me and the students. I've already explained My Grading System to keep me organized and today I would like to tell you my plan to help my students understand where their grades are coming from.

How Am I Graded In...
I believe that setting up expectations FIRST is the key to success in anything you do. This is especially true in your classroom.

For my students this year, I've created rubrics for each subject and also a description page that tells my students the type of assignment they will be graded on, then how many points they will receive for a completed, correct assignment. I am going to print one out for each student (for each subject) and have them glue those papers into the front of their notebooks for that subject.

For example, here is my How Am I Graded in Reading? sheet. I will have my students glue this page into their notebooks.

This way they will always have that page in front of them. They will be able to check how much each type of assignment is worth. Now, it won't be an "out of sight, out of mind" kind of thing with their grades. If they choose not to do an assignment, they will automatically know how many points they will be losing.

Goal Setting & Tracking
I've always wanted to do Goal Setting and Tracking with my students, but never found a great system for it. As I was browsing Laura Candler's website the other day, I found this awesome-looking packet (already created!) on Goal Setting & Tracking. She offers several of the documents for free, but the main e-booklet is only $6.95. I am totally planning on ordering it! Check out her website HERE to find the Goal Setting & Tracking E-Booklet. On the right-hand side of the page you will see her FREEBIES and it will give you a better idea of what's in the e-book. I can't wait to try this with my students...I am hoping it will make a difference for all of my students...especially those who are not as motivated.

How do you set up grading expectations in your classroom? Do you use goal setting with your kiddos? If so, what does that look like & has it worked?

Take care now, bye bye then,

ps... brownie points to the first person who can name the movie that my sign-off line today! :)